Training for Swimming - Maximise Your Speed With CSS Threshold Type Training

8/13/2019 Training for Swimming - Maximise Your Speed With CSS Threshold Type Training

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TRAINING FOR SWIMMING - MAXIMISE YOUR SPEED WITH CSS /

THRESHOLD WORK

What sort of fitness training should you do to reach peak fitness?

This article is appropriate for Intermediate and Advanced swimmers. If you are stilllearning the stroke we don't recommend you worry much about your swimming fitness

until you've conquered the basic stroke technique.Sustain your threshold (CSS) pace and your fitness will fly upwards.

Your swimming week

Swim Smooth believe that every session you do should have a balance of 3 elements -technique, fitness and open water specific training. If you are swimming three times a week

we suggest you hit this sort of routine:

1x Technique orientated session

1x Endurance biased session with longer steady paced swim sets

1x Quality session working on your threshold speedEach of those sessions will contain a little of the 3 elements technique/fitness/open water

skills, but the amount of each will vary between the sessions.

Worried about getting this right? You need one of our training plans to follow!

Your Quality swim Sets

For distance swimmers - including open water athletes and triathletes - one physiologicalfactor is all important: your lactate threshold. If you can improve your lactate threshold

speed your race speeds will improve. Your ability to sprint or work anaerobically above

threshold is largely irrelevant in distance swimming and triathlon. So is your ability to liftheavy weights.

For most swimmers, the change to CSS sets will mean more swimming and less recovery.

Here's the secret: To improve your lactate threshold you want to do your quality swim sets

at your current threshold pace or just below it. Many athletes make the mistake of trainingabove lactate threshold in short sharp swim sets - that isn't nearly as effective. We'll explain

more about getting that right below.

Lactate Threshold, Threshold and CSSIn the training and coaching world we often shorten 'lactate threshold' to just 'threshold' - it

means the same thing. In a laboratory we'd measure your threshold by taking small samples

of your blood as you exercise at increasing intensities and look for the characteristic kickup in blood lactate when you reach your threshold swim speed. Blood tests like that are

expensive and tricky to perform in a wet environment, fortunately there is a better way to

find your threshold speed. Enter CSS.

CSS is an acronym for Critical Swim Speed. It's an approximation of your lactate thresholdspeed and you can find it by doing a couple of swimming tests (no blood involved - just a

stopwatch!). It's not precisely the same as lactate threshold but it will be within a couple of

seconds per 100m, which is plenty accurate enough to guide your training.

Test To Find CSS

The CSS test involves two timetrial swims - a 400m and a 200m. Before attempting theseswims perform a thorough warmup and a small build set to get you used to swimming fast.

http://www.swimsmooth.com/trainingplans.html






Do the 400m timetrial first, it's less likely to effect the 200m than the other way around.

Recover completely between each timetrial with some easy swimming. Perform both

timetrials from a push off from the wall, not a dive.

Try and pace the trials as evenly as possible, don't start too fast and slow down. If you'renot sure get someone to take your 100m splits - they can be very revealing.

If you're good at maths and want to know the CSS calculation, it is:CSS (m/sec) = (400 - 200) / (T400 - T200)Where T400 and T200 are your 400 and 200m times in seconds. We then convert your

speed from m/sec into time per 100m.

Note: A previous version of the CSS test used 400m and 50m timetrials, you will findreferences to this test around the internet. We recommend you use this 400m and 200m test

as it gives more accurate results for most swimmers.

How To Train Using CSS

Now you know your CSS speed / 100m you can use it to set a pace for your quality swimsets. Remember, target CSS speed to develop your lactate threshold and become faster.

Here are some examples - these are challenging sets you might do once a week for the main

set in your quality swim.

You swim 7:30 or slower for 400m:

6x200m with 20sec recovery or3x400m with 45sec recovery or

4x(200m then 100m) with 10sec recovery or

12x100m with 10sec recovery

You swim 5:45-7:30 for 400m:

8x200m with 20sec recovery or

4x400m with 40sec recovery or5x(200m then 100m) with 10sec recovery or

15x100m with 10sec recovery

You swim sub 5:45 for 400m:



18x100m with 10sec recovery or3x600m with 60sec recovery

These are tough sets with each of the repetitions targeting your CSS pace. You can shorten

them if you want a slightly easier session.The key point with all these sets is sustained speed with short recoveries. These are just

examples, make up your own sessions to keep things interesting.

Compared to how you normally train you might find the pace slightly slower but therecoveries much shorter. It's a different sort of challenge.

CSS feels easy for the first few hundred metres but creeps up on you as the sets go on. The

word 'relentless' probably describes it best!Learn to use the pace clock at your pool to keep an eye on your splits and to time your

recoveries.



The Importance of Pacing

When you swim CSS sets it's important to pace things well. If you start too fast and then

slow down you won't get the same training benefit.Try and swim each repetition at the same pace. Very often this will mean the first few

hundred metres feels fairly steady - good pacing technique is an important skill to learn andis one of the key differences between amateur and elite swimmers.

The Mental Side

If you are used to doing swim sets with more recovery, a CSS session can look pretty nastywhen you write it down! You've got to sustain a fast pace for quite a while and you don't

get much recovery time between swims.

Most of this is just a mental thing because you're not used to swimming like that. 4x400

fast sounds tough but the running equivalent is approx 4x1 mile, in terms of time. Runners,

doesn't sound so tough?We recommend you don't think too much, just do it! It sounds much harder than it is.

What if it really is too hard, or it feels too easy?

The CSS test isn't foolproof.

If it feels too easy to complete the example sessions above then it is too easy. Increase the

pace slightly until it feels hard but do-able. Just make sure you sustain the same pacethroughout - don't fade.

Alternatively, if it really is too hard and you can't complete a decent set then swallow your

pride and back off the pace a couple of seconds per 100m. 2 secs/100m doesn't sound likemuch but it can make all the difference. This is because CSS pace really is a fundamental

*threshold* - it's impossible to hold a faster pace continuously.

Retesting Your CSSWe'd normally suggest repeating the 400+200m CSS test every 4 to 6 weeks. If things are

going well then test every 4 weeks because your fitness can improve quite fast and you'll

need to increase the pace of your CSS sets.For most triathletes we suggest training hard for 3 weeks and then taking an easier recovery

week. The perfect time to repeat the CSS test is at the end of the recovery week.

Don't I Need to Swim Faster Than My Threshold To Improve It?Believe it or not, no you don't. That line of thinking comes from “I'll train at this faster pace

and my body will get used to it”. That logic is flawed because the body doesn't work like

that. When you train faster than threshold you end up splitting the train effect into your

anaerobic system too - which you don't need much when you race. And you give your bodya much greater recovery task after the session, which means it has less energy left over to

make the fitness adaptations you are looking for. The result is that training above threshold

gives you less adaptation of your threshold, not more. Not convinced? Compare it to weight training. Say you wanted to increase your maximum

bench press. You can currently lift 50kg and want to get to 60kg. You can't go and lift 60kg

- you're not strong enough. But by doing sets at 45-50kg your body adapts and improves.To stress a body system and prompt your body to adapt you just need to approach your

current limit.



Still not convinced? Take the challenge! Try it for 4 weeks, swimming one CSS session per

week. Over 4 weeks you'll notice your speeds improve as the CSS training starts to work its

magic.

Should I Never Swim Above Threshold Then?

You certainly can include some anaerobic work and short sprints in your training - they'regood for your swimming technique in themselves: they give you a feel of the water athigher speeds and trains your nervous system to the higher forces. What we're suggesting is

you shift your big training sets away from anaerobic swimming to CSS swimming. In

practise this means slowing the pace a touch and shortening the recoveries - making thespeed more sustained.

So, still include some anaerobic and sprint work but reduce it and give it less importance in

your swimming.

Article © Swim Smooth 2009

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